


The River

by Kariachi



Series: Souls & Switches [1]
Category: Ben 10 Series
Genre: Alternate Universe - Daemons, Gen, because why let the tennyson side have all the coolness and power?, natalie has witch blood
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-02
Updated: 2016-11-02
Packaged: 2018-08-28 14:05:56
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,513
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8449075
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Kariachi/pseuds/Kariachi
Summary: Settling is easily one of the most important moments in a persons life, but for some people it can carry more weight than others.





	

Gwen is twelve and sitting on the lake with her Grandpa Max, fishing and watching Llyr shift between species of ducks and geese, when her daemon becomes a marvel in black and white, regal from his webbed feet to the red knob on his bill, and stops. She’s not sure how she knows he’s stopped for good, that he’ll never change again, but she does and it feels so very right.

Grandpa and Deana are, of course, overjoyed. They stop to get celebratory pizza and pie on the way home and both are beaming when she runs into the house with a swan on her heels and news to tell. Ríonach bounds around Llyr like she’s a puppy again, Ken ruffles her hair, her father hugs her close and cries massive tears over how his little girl is growing up while Lilyfair tries to calm him down. Her mother gives her a pair of earrings that she’d gotten from her mother as Richard watches them with pride. Uncle Carl and Aunt Sandra come over as soon as they hear and bring Ben along. He has a million questions for her and Cassie flits from shape to shape as she hassles Llyr about how Settling feels. Everyone has praise and compliments for them and the house is full of joy.

The next day they have a party, a small, real celebration of this first step into adulthood. There’s ham and green beans and ice cream cake and her Grandpa is halfway through a toast when Bjartr pecks at the dining room window. Her father’s family try not to visibly shy away when her mother opens the window and her great-grandmother’s daemon flies in alone.

He lands on the table, between a platter of rolls and Ken’s glass, fluffs his dark feathers, and makes his way around his family. How are Ken and Ríonach? Fine? He’s glad. Natalie and Richard? Well? Good to hear.

“You’re very handsome,” he says when he gets to Gwen and Llyr and Llyr preens in response. Gwen can’t help but notice that her mother looks less than happy, and that she and her father are sharing a look of concern, but before she can ask what’s wrong the giant petrel has met her bright eyes with his own.

“Are you coming to the River?”

~~

Gwen’s always known, even before she began to learn magic, that she had witch blood. It would have been hard not to, what with Bjartr visiting regularly with his other half nowhere in sight. She’s known forever that her mother’s grandmother is a witch, that the women in the family, in witch style, always settle as birds, that sometimes a granddaughter or further can become a witch as well, even if she’s born from a witch’s human son. When she began learning magic, one of her earliest thoughts was that she would follow in the footsteps on her ancestors.

Still, the question comes as a surprise, and she says yes without even thinking.

The River is far away and her parents have to tell her school that they’re going on a weeks long vacation so she can travel there with her mother. Her great-grandmother and her daughters meet them in a small village in the far, far north- none of them looking older than their mid-twenties, all of them with birds- and lead them deep into the woods, into a cave. Gwen feels like a journey so important should be done in silence, but the witches clearly feel differently as they speak to her the entire way down.

“You’re growing into a fine young woman.”

“Such healthy feathers, a good sign.”

“How is your magic going, dear?”

“Been generations since there’s been a swan in the family, very regal.”

“How are your classes?”

Her mother seems to agree with her though, she spends the entire trip walking silently behind her. Even Richard doesn’t make a sound as they go deeper and deeper and deeper, until the only light is magic orbs conjured by her great-grandmother, then deeper still until they finally reach their destination.

The River Beneath the World

Gwen knows without asking that there is no reachable bottom and she can’t see the other shore from where she stands with the rest of her family, but she can see a small boat, just big enough for one, and a set of oars sitting half out of the water. Her stomach clenches and she reaches for the familiar feel of Llyr’s feathers beneath her fingers.

“Daemons cannot cross it,” one of her aunts says and she wants to tell her that she already knows, that she’s read the stories, but something tells her that this is as important as the journey itself. “You’ll go alone while he waits here. When you come back from the other shore your bond will be as strong as ever, but there will be no limit to how far apart the two of you can be. You will be able to attain new power, live longer, stay young.”

“You’ll outlive anyone you love who isn’t a witch.” Her mother isn’t looking at her. She’s staring out over the water, a hand stroking Richard’s feathered head. For the first time Gwen puts together her mother’s discomfort with her magic, how Richard never leaves her shoulder, how old she looks in comparison to her family. The looks make sense.

“It’s the price you pay,” another great-aunt says, giving her mother a look Gwen can’t read. The adults fall silent and she looks between them, hoping for some form of advice or guidance. There is none.

She takes a deep breath and heads for the boat with Llyr at her feet. Runs her hand over old, worn wood, feels the water lap against her shoes. Watches as Llyr tests the water with his bill and backs away. There’s a knot in her gut and she has to force herself to breathe. The thought of being apart from him, it had sounded so amazing before, she had dreamed of it, of him soaring high above her, but now that it was so close…

“I love you,” she whispers with a nervous smile and he shoves his head under her hand.

“I love you, too.” ‘Your bond will be as strong as ever’, that was what her aunt had said, but what if it wasn’t, what if something went wrong, what if-

“No one is going to make you cross, darling.” Gwen starts as a hand lands on her shoulder and turns to look up into her great-grandmother’s blue eyes. The woman is smiling. “Nobody wants to. This is your own decision, and you must make it, for you and for Llyr. No regrets.” It occurs to Gwen that this is only the fourth time she’s met this woman, four times in her entire life, and still she feels like a staple of her world. Bjartr helps that, she guesses. He’s visited every year with news and praise and love that shines just as bright in the witch’s eyes. She glances to her grandmother’s side and sees him there, looking just as much like that’s where he belongs, like the second half of a whole, as if he’d never been apart from the woman in their life. Power and time and freedom, and they would still stay whole.

But she would outlive her father, her brother, Ben. Cooper and Jonesy. Any husband she took, any sons she had, any boy she loved, would die while she stayed young.

Swallowing hard, Gwen turns back to the water. Llyr’s head is under one hand, his side pressed firmly to her leg, while under the other sits the wood of the boat. She feels her great-grandmother back away. It’s a big decision, a choice that will change her life.

No regrets.

“Not today,” she says, forcing her shoulders straight as she turns back to her family, “not yet.”

Gwen expects disappointment, sadness, but all she sees is pride. Smiles on every face and understanding in every eye. There are nods, a murmuring of understanding. Hands on her shoulders as she rejoins them.

The trip back to the forest is filled with discussion of everything from magic to schoolwork to recipes. Advice flies like their bird daemons do and even her mother finds herself free of tension and joining in as they go. One of Gwen’s great-aunts even gives her a ride back to the village on her cloud-pine, Llyr flying to one side and her tern on the other. They all join for dinner and a cake that night, and in the morning, it’s all smiles and heartfelt goodbyes as she and her mother board the first ferry back to a town with an airport.

Llyr sits in Gwen’s lap as they pull away from shore, his head under her chin, and she knows he’s thinking the same thing she is.

Not yesterday, or today, or even tomorrow, but someday, maybe, they’ll be back to take their place in the Clan. Someday, maybe, they’ll follow in their ancestors’ footsteps.

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first of several side fics for a larger AU I'm working on. I'll be working on posting a few before I post the main story.
> 
> Daemons mentioned here are:  
> Gwen- Llyr ([Black-necked Swan](http://carolinabirds.org/Daniels/SylvanHeights/Swan,%20Black-necked%202.jpg))  
> Natalie- Richard ([Eurasian Sparrowhawk](https://c1.staticflickr.com/9/8324/8139505105_057660f8c4_b.jpg))  
> Great-grandmother- Bjartr ([Northern Giant Petrel](http://cdn1.arkive.org/media/7B/7B58E80E-33C0-4CDB-9D25-C13563B60A11/Presentation.Large/Northern-giant-petrel-on-nest.jpg))  
> Great-Aunt- Silvius ([Common Tern](http://mediad.publicbroadcasting.net/p/michigan/files/201405/commontern.jpg))  
> Ken- Ríonach ([Eurasian Wolf](http://allkindsofwolves.webstarts.com/uploads/eurasian_wolf.jpg))  
> Max- Deana ([Boxer](http://www.petproductmarketing.co.uk/custom/images/large/4bb32577ec2c0.jpg))  
> Frank- Lilyfair ([Munchkin](http://www.petmd.com/sites/default/files/breedopedia/munchkin%20alex.jpg))  
> Ben- Cassiopeia (unsettled)


End file.
